The Heart Thief
by o0-Key-0o
Summary: Suspicious things begin happening to the MindCrack guys during one of their UHC matches. Strange traps, mammoth builds, and a spectral figure all tie together to explain the mystery, but will the players be able to figure it out without killing each other in the process? A tale of trial and teamwork-meant to be adventurous and silly in places.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Minecraft; Mojang does. I don't own the MindCrack server, or know the guys personally.** This fanfic is intended for fun and adventure (contextually speaking). Some other business:

1) I am a Lore Writer for BlameTheController's (BTC) Broken Buttons Build Team. Therefore, any map ideas belong first to the build team. If we choose to build a map based on anything written here, it is our right to do so. Please respect the hard work we put into our builds by not stealing or plagiarizing.

2) I enjoy writing many different types of fanfiction, as evidenced on my account page. Thus you are warned that I have a short attention span, and I do not always finish my fanfictions. Also, this is just a fun endeavor, written on the spur of the moment. The quality will be slightly...looser.

3) If you enjoy what you've read, then show some love by leaving a review. I also accept yarn donations and Tim Horton's coffee. You can follow me on Twitter Velvet_Key.

I think that's everything! Now, let's get started on this wild and crazy ride. - Key

* * *

**The Heart Thief**

Chapter One:

Waking Up with Amnesia...and Guude

* * *

"Hey. Hey! Beef, come on man, _wake up!_"

VintageBeef managed to open one eye. There was a distant ringing in his ears, accompanied by the pounding of a truly monstrous headache. Someone was insistently shaking his shoulder, and he started to sit up before his vision swam and he abandoned that idea. He managed to get his other eye open; not that there was much to see. Apparently he was in a cave. A very shadowy, poorly-lit cave that just screamed_ light me up, fast!_

"You had me worried," came the voice again. Too quickly, Beef looked for the speaker, and his vision hazed out of focus again.

"Ah…" He put his hand to his head, as if he could somehow squeeze the headache away. "What happened?" Whoever was talking didn't seem to mean him any harm, so Beef was going to go with that assumption for the moment.

"We were digging down here, and you got stuck under falling gravel," his companion said. "I think you got hit with at least half a dozen blocks before I got to you."

"And...you are…?" Beef prompted, still attempting to get rid of his headache by rubbing his forehead.

There was a brief pause, then a short burst of laughter. "Right, now you're just trying to be funny." The shadows in the cave shifted; it took Beef a moment to realize that the person held a single torch-the only source of illumination in the entire cave. By the torch's guttering light, he saw a man with a green shirt and dark blond hair. He tried to remember if he'd seen that face before, but came up with nothing.

"No, seriously. Who are you?" Beef tried sitting up again, and this time he succeeded. He took a brief survey-a few scratches, several bruises, but no broken bones or blood that belonged to him. His apron was definitely dirtier with actual dirt, and he took a moment to shake loose gravel and flint out of his sneakers.

"Who am I?" the other guy repeated. "What do you mean, _who am I?!"_ Now the guy was starting to lose his cool. "Are you trying to tell me that you have amnesia?"

Clearly, the man was excitable. Beef tried to choose his next words carefully. "I don't know. I know who I am...just having trouble placing your face, is all."

"I'm Guude! We're on Team Nancy Drew together; we've done tons of adventures and battles and-and...you better not be screwing with me." Guude, so identified, took a moment to take a deep breath.

Beef stared at Guude, trying hard to make something jog his memory. It didn't help.

"Okay, well what_ do_ you remember?" Guude prompted. "We've got time; no one's gonna find us down here."

"Nobody except whatever spawns in this darkness," Beef said uneasily, standing up. He waited for the world to stabilize before taking a better look around. "What were we doing?"

"It's UHC; we're on the same team," Guude said, striving to be patient. He also got to his feet and began pacing the small length of the cave, making the torchlight flicker along the gray stone walls. "We started it half an hour ago-the sun is going down, so we took shelter down here so we could look for coal and gold." He planted his torch on a nearby wall and began pulling things out of his pockets.

"See, here's the pork chops we got from that huge group of pigs in the biome we started in. Then there's the birch wood we punched down, the wooden tools we made, our workbench-you're telling me you don't remember any of that?" Guude asked, disbelieving. He plunked the workbench down and sat on it, thinking.

"It's probably just temporary amnesia," Beef said, pretty proud of himself for not panicking outright. Of course, Guude was apparently capable of panicking enough for the both of them.

"Oh, well this is just _dandy,"_ Guude was muttering to himself. "We haven't found a single piece of gold ore, we had just enough coal to cook the pork chops and make four torches, and _now_ my UHC partner doesn't know who I am!"

"Hey, it's not like I _meant_ to get amnesia," Beef shot back. He went through his own inventory and pulled out a wooden pick.

"What're you doing?" Guude asked suspiciously, as if he wasn't sure Beef should be handling tools.

"We need ore, right? Just sitting here waiting to remember if I actually think you're a good friend or not doesn't seem like a great plan." Beef started carving out a staircase.

Guude munched on a pork chop while he thought it over. "Well, you _sound_ like the Beef I know. If it wouldn't take away from your hearts I'd try hitting you over the head again. Hey, how's your health?"

In reply, his companion rolled up his left sleeve and checked the monitor on his wrist. "Down three, but with the headache it feels like five."

"We'd better work harder on getting golden apples, then." Guude pulled out a pick of his own and the pair got to work, the single torch between them casting dancing shadows on the cave walls.

Somewhere high above, a pair of eyes gleamed faintly, watching the team chip away at the stone. The mysterious figure smiled, an unseen expression in the dark as it examined the objects it held. Three tiny red gems glowed with a faint, pulsing light, warm to the touch even through the gloves the figure wore. The unknown person gripped the gems suddenly, and the faint light vanished as it dropped them into a hidden pouch.

The stranger's head whipped around-someone else was getting close to another of the runes.

With nothing more than the sound of a sigh, the mysterious figure blinked out of sight.

* * *

"A desert is the _worst possibl_e place to spend the night!" Pause grumbled, and not for the first time. "You try digging a hidey hole in this mess!"

That was precisely what his partner was doing, without regard for the Canadian's complaints. "I'm not disagreeing with you, but at the same time, that's all we can do," Mhykol replied, using his foot to drive the head of his shovel deep in the sand. A few more blocks down, and the sand gave way to sandstone.

"Ah, see? We'll be okay." Mhykol handed Pause his shovel and took out his pickaxe instead. "A half stack of these and we can construct a basic shelter for the night-"

Pause didn't even have time to react as the ground exploded outwards. A debris cloud of grit and sandstone bits blinded him, and he fell flat on his back. Mhykol's shovel went spinning out of his grasp, and it seemed like the air had been squeezed out of his lungs.

Ears ringing, Pause blinked and tried to squint through the cloud of smoke and sand in the air. "Mhykol? Hey, you okay? Say something!" He rolled over and tried to get his feet under him, but the sand slowed him down, sucking at his legs as it rushed to fill the new crater not five feet away.

Pause crawled to the edge of the hole and took a deep breath to steady his nerves before peering inside. And then he froze.

A cloaked figure dressed all in black was standing over Mhykol's limp body. Pause could see dozens of gashes on his teammate's skin, and even though his eyes were partly open, they looked glassy and unfocused.

He didn't know what to do-his thoughts raced for a moment before deciding that dead or not, whoever had laid this trap was going to get a faceful of fletching. He instinctively reached for his bow, which should have been strapped to his back. Then he grimaced in memory-he hadn't gotten a bow yet. It was only the first day-all he had were some wooden tools, some planks, and-

Pause yanked his flint and steel out of his pouch. With a warcry, he vaulted over the edge of the hole, a spray of sand settling over the cloaked stranger and its prey.

It turned with a hiss, and all Pause saw was a pair of luminous, green eyes before he snagged the edge of the cloak with his fire-starter. _FWOOM._ The black fabric caught fire like it was kindling. Pause watched for a moment with grim satisfaction, but then the cloak lost form and fell to the ground in a burning heap. A dark streak zipped up and out of the crater, and was lost to sight.

The indian kicked the ashy remains of the garment away from Mhykol, who was eerily still. A glint near his friend's hand caught his eye-a red jewel. Pause knelt and picked it up, cradling it in the palm of his hand. It was warm, almost too hot. Had the stranger dropped it?

"I swear, I will find out who that was and kill them," he promised Mhykol. He placed the jewel in Mhykol's hand and closed his fingers around it. In less than sixty seconds, the body would despawn-

Mhykol inhaled suddenly and coughed. "Wha-_ack!_ What-"

Pause didn't wait for further confirmation. "You're not dead! I thought for sure you were a goner!" Mhykol laughed weakly.

"I was a goner. I saw the end credits and everything. What'd you do? How'd you bring me back? It's not possible."

"Me? I didn't do anything." Pause pulled Mhykol upright and then dusted himself off, attempting to straighten the skewed feathers on his headdress. "I mean, I scared the Grim Reaper away-was somebody wearing a black skin this event?"

Mhykol was still catching his breath. "A black…? No, not that I remember. BdoubleO had his red headband on, and I think Generik had camouflage facepaint, but that's it."

Pause looked up, trying to decide how best to get out of the crater and suddenly noticed the stars overhead. "Oh, no. We gotta put a roof on this place and I mean now." He grabbed all the loose sandstone he could find and started making a roof.

"Wait, what about the grim reaper? What were you saying?" Mhykol asked, getting his wobbly legs under him enough to start closing off the other half of the hole.

"Less talk, more build!" Pause insisted. "We have all night to stare at each other." Wordlessly, Mhykol kept working.


End file.
